Walkers may subsidise Cairngorm railway
The public agency which now runs the Cairngorm funicular railway has proposed that parking charges be introduced at the car park at the funicular to help fund running costs. Approximately half the people using the car park actually go on the funicular, the others being walkers, climbers and skiers.
The Scottish Parliament is due to release a report into the funding and running of the Cairngorms funicular railway today. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) had to step in when the railway floundered under massive financial problems and has spent £19.42m in total towards the cost of building and running it. The development agency plans to spend a further £4m over the next 3 or 4 years to maintain the funicular.
HIE said the investment would bring the site up to a standard that would attract a new operator from the private sector. It has also proposed introducing charges at a car park serving the railway. This would affect walkers using the Coire Cas car park as the starting point for a number of walks, as well as summer users of the funicular and skiers. HIE said that about 400,000 people used the car park last year. Half of those visitors used the funicular.
The agency took the railway and CairnGorm Mountain ski resort over in May 2008. It followed agreements reached with Bank of Scotland Corporate and CairnGorm Mountain Trust on large debts owed by CairnGorm Mountain Limited (CML).
Highland Council also agreed to write off a £1m loan to CML. The Scottish Parliament’s audit committee reviewed the financing of the funicular following an investigation by spending watchdog Audit Scotland.
Explosions of a different kind were heard on Cairngorm yesterday as controlled blasts were used to remove a massive build up of snow from above the ski slopes where it posed an avalanche risk.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Haha – pretty funny. What about skiers subsidising your parking, ranger service, toilets and road clearing?
There were always carparking charges in the past, but these were then rolled into the cost of a ski ticket. But things have changed since, and we now have a situation where walkers (non-customers) take up a significant portion of CML’s carparking space (especially in winter – while would-be customers get turned away at Glenmore as carparks are at capacity) but do not contribute to the business. Fair? It’s about time that walkers and climbers gave something back.
March 4th, 2010 at 7:45 am
It does not seem particularly fair to me that walkers and climbers should have to contribute towards the funicular when we are not allowed to use it even if we wanted to. Many of us were against the construction of the railway in the first place. I have no objection to paying for car parking but not to subsidise the railway.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:23 am
When speaking to the then CEO of CML in 2005 (when he first told me about the idea of reintroducing carparking charges) it was very much a case that the carparking charge would be used first and foremost for road maintenance and clearing etc.
Fair.
I don’t know why people are assuming the carparking charge is to subsidise the funicular? A case of 2+2=5!
March 4th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Mainly I suppose because that’s what it says in the news article Quote “The public agency which now runs the Cairngorm funicular railway has proposed that parking charges be introduced at the car park at the funicular to help fund running costs.” As I said I have no objection to paying for car parking, I just object to subsidising something I never wanted in the first place and will not be using.
March 10th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
I dont know where Jamie has been since Christmas but it has clearly been a case of skiers taking up the significant portion of both car parks on the several occasions I have been there since Christmas. Yes there have been sightings of walkers using the car park but lets face it, it is the bumper snow conditions which has brought all mountain goers whether they be skiers or walkers. And what about the tourism £’s all mountain users bring to the local area. Another charge for parking will simply be seen as another tax and an excuse to extort money out of people for enjoying the great outdoors. Why should walkers subsidise the funicular when they cannot use it to get up the mountain unless they want to remain within the confines of the Ptarmigan restaurant area. Besides allowing people to use the funicular to gain access to the plateau is in breach of the EU Funding Agreement.